1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cassette loading device for a recording and/or reproducing apparatus of the kind to be loaded with a cassette which houses therein a record bearing medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among recording and/or reproducing apparatuses adapted for recording and/or reproducing a signal in or from recording tracks concentrically or helically formed on a disc shaped record bearing medium such as a flexible magnetic disc, an apparatus arranged to have a cassette which houses the disc shaped record bearing medium inserted from the front of the apparatus in loading the apparatus with the cassette is known and referred to as the front loading type.
The front loading type apparatus is generally provided with a gripping member which is arranged at a cassette holder to firmly hold the cassette which is inserted into the cassette holder.
FIGS. 13A and 13B of the accompanying drawings show an example of the conventional firm holding arrangement mentioned above. A leaf spring 34' which has a relatively large urging force is attached to the inner side of the upper part of the cassette holder 7'. When a cassette 2 is inserted by hand from the direction of arrow C, the leaf spring 34' exerts the urging force on the cassette 2. Then, with the cassette 2 further inserted to a predetermined position defined by a bent part 7'a of the cassette holder 7', the cassette 2 is fixedly kept in the predetermined position under the urging force of the leaf spring 34' within the cassette holder 7' as shown in FIG. 13B. Following that, the cassette holder 7' is moved horizontally in the direction of arrow C as necessary. Then, the holder 7' is moved downward. The cassette loading operation then comes to an end when the cassette 2 comes to a predetermined recording or reproducing position within the recording and/or reproducing apparatus. Cassette 2 is taken out by an operation which is carried out in a manner reverse to the manner described above.
In accordance with the above-explained arrangement, the cassette 2 must be pushed inward against the urging force of the leaf spring 34'. This requires a large inserting force. Further, a large force is also required for taking out the cassette 2 against the force of the leaf spring 34' from the cassette holder 7'. Therefore, the conventional cassette loading devices have often been such that the cassette cannot be smoothly inserted and taken out and, in some cases, the inadequate operability tends to damage the cassette 2.
This problem can be solved by weakening the urging force of the leaf spring 34'. However the weakened urging force results in a weaker gripping force on the cassette 2. Then, while the cassette holder 2 is on the move, the vibration, etc. likely causes the cassette 2 to shift its position within the cassette holder 7'. Further, the cassette 2 moves easily within the holder 7' by contacting with other members during the horizontal move of the holder 7'. Under such a condition, the apparatus cannot be adequately loaded with the cassette.
The applicant of the present application has previously filed U.S. patent application Ser. No. 670, 749 (filed Nov. 13, 1984, entitled "RECORD BEARING MEDIUM CONTAINER LOADING DEVICE, Uehara) for a novel record bearing medium container loading device which is capable of solving the above-stated problems of the prior art devices.
The disclosed loading device for a cassette containing therein a record bearing medium comprises: cassette carrying means which includes an elastic member and a cassette receiving member arranged to have the cassette gripped and sandwiched in between them and is arranged to be driven to move in the direction of inserting the cassette; position restricting means which restricts the position of the elastic member in the cassette carrying means; and driving means for driving the cassette carrying means in the cassette inserting direction. In loading the cassette, the record bearing medium containing cassette is pushed in between the elastic member and the cassette receiving member of the cassette carrying means until the elastic member is restricted by the restricting means. Following that, the driving means performs an inward pulling action on the carrying means. During this pulling action, the cassette pinching force of the carrying means is increased with the restricting means arranged to act on the elastic member.